Unfortunately, there is no more scope this school year for Transition Year work placements in The Irish Times. However, students can win £20 book tokens if their submissions are published in Media Scope's weekly Over to You
Catriona Ni Dhubhda, Colaiste Iosagain, Stillorgan
Lately I've been hearing and reading more and more information about eating disorders among young girls and women, and I've noticed more and more people blame the media - with accusations such as "if the media didn't show so many thin, pretty girls as role models then ordinary girls wouldn't feel so pressured to look like them". But is the media really to blame? All the media does is sell a phoney product entitled "beauty".
Publishers, editors and casting directors alike all know the responses the public will have to a certain type of image. For instance, when we see a tall, thin, big-busted woman in a movie or modelling, most of us secretly think she looks good, even though we might not say it.
And when we see a normal-sized woman in Hollywood we can't help but compare her to other thinner women, even though again, we might not say it. So who exactly is to blame? The media is providing us with an image, and like it or not, the public is accepting it. We keep buying the magazines, going to the movies and watching the TV shows. The media are merely making a living off our shallow image of "beauty".
Lisa Shine, Muckross Park College, Donnybrook, Dublin
The world is not solving its food problems and perhaps it never will. About 800 million people die every year as a result of food problems and every 3.6 seconds a child dies in Africa as a result of hunger related diseases, according to Trocaire's Lenten campaign. But what are the world's food problems?
For the developing world, famine is a food problem that has become a political rather than an agricultural phenomenon. The government in Ethiopia at the moment has both the power and the capacity to solve its food problems, but the will to do so just isn't there; it continues to spend money on arms for use in the pointless war with its neighbour, Eritrea, when it is estimated that 16 million people are starving.
However, food problems are not confined to the developing world alone. The US is an example of a country with food problems of the other extreme. One out of every four Americans is obese, just as one out of every four Africans is starving. And the number of deaths as a result of obesity has risen sharply in recent years.
And there are many more food problems still to be solved. Who knows what consequences trading problems, distribution problems and problems with genetically modified crops will hold for the future?
Since you started reading this article, 75 children in Africa have died as a result of food problems. Now that's real food for thought!
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media scope is a weekly media studies page for use in schools. Group rates and a special worksheet service (see `faxback', right) are available: FREEPHONE 1-800-798884. media scope is edited by Harry Browne.
